We've talked through the substance of this draft more than once, and as you intend to rewrite it on the basis of those conversations, it's more efficient for me to leave the substantial discussion for the next round. The writing of the next draft should be tighter: you are unnecessarily prolix and repetitive. Outline down to the paragraph level if not below, and make sure each sentence carries its share of the load. In 1,000 words there is no room to say anything twice.

Why couldn't these be ordinary links in the text, anchored to the relevant locations in the text. Were are writing and reading in the Web, why make it hard for the reader to do what the Web makes easy?

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Introduction:

Previously you could consider yourself lucky if you met anyone at a club or bar as a gay or bisexual man. In the LGBT community, there was no clear way for men to meet one another; however, today’s phone apps have revolutionized dating for the general public. Grindr, a dating app meant to connect male identifying folks of the LGBT community, lets men locate other Grindr users who are nearby. According to the app’s creator, Joel Simkhai, Grindr is for “guys meeting guys” and it’s meant to help gay men establish relationships, whether that be friendship, dates, or sex. Despite the creator’s intentions, generally most men are using Grindr for casual sex. Therefore, Grindr’s culture of casual sex is problematic as it reinforces an inaccurate, generalized view commonly held by members outside of the LGBT community that queer men are more sexually promiscuous.

Origin, Function, and Use of Grindr:

Grindr is a smartphone application that utilizes GPS technology to locate other gay men that are in proximity – regardless of your geographic location. Since launching in 2009, the app has been downloaded over 10 million times, is available in 192 countries, and has more than 2.6 million users that have collectively exchanged more than 70 million chat messages. Over the past 15 years, Grindr has quickly grown into the world’s largest social networking app for gay, bisexual, trans, and queer people. The app is not limited to men who are “out of the closet”; men who are questioning their sexuality and/or identify as “discreet” or “closeted” can use the app as well.

Each Grindr user has a profile with personal information, focusing on physical features like their height, weight, ethnicity, and body type. A user’s profile also displays their relationship status, current HIV status, and their “tribe”. A tribe is a filter that lets users identify themselves with a specific group within the gay community like clean-cut, twink, bear, and geek. These preferences let users specify their searches and find their preferred type of man. These features let men easily find what they are looking for, but they also contribute to the app’s overtly sexual nature since the filtering is done primarily by physical preference.

How Grindr Perpetuates Gay Stereotypes

Outside and even within the LGBT community, there’s an inaccurate but established stereotype that queer men are more promiscuous and heavily active in today’s “hook-up culture.” Hook-up culture both encourages and normalizes sexual encounters without a long-term commitment or emotional attachment. Grindr and its users have created its own culture of hooking up. And individuals outside of the LGBT community are already apt to believe that gay men have higher levels of casual sex – especially after 1980s HIV/AIDS epidemic which initiated a great deal of the gay, sexual stereotypes that exist today.

However, not every gay or bisexual man is sexually active, let alone sexually promiscuous, which disproves the largest misconception behind these stereotypes. Though, gay, bisexual, and queen men’s actual use for Grindr further pushes this inaccurate stereotype when the app’s societal influence could instead be used to shatter this myth. Grindr also has some additional features that seem to inadvertently encourage casual sex amongst its users. For example, the instant messaging feature helps in creating Grindr’s hook up culture. In their messages, users can send pictures that tend to go beyond the typical selfie and are usually sexually explicit. The slang popularized by Grindr messaging has also helped in forming the app’s culture of casual sex. Some of the lingo is words like “host”, which is asking if the individual can host the sex partner(s) at his home or “safe”, a way to see if the person wants to use a condom or another safe sex method. At the end of the day, the frequent and popular use of Grindr and its features have allowed a culture of hooking up to permeate the LGBT community and thrive. The fact that the app is mostly used exclusively for casual sexual behaviors inaccurately implies that homosexual men are more promiscuous.

The Issue and What the App Should Do:

While Grindr has created easy access for meeting gay men in the area, it has simultaneously made obtaining long-term relationship more challenging. The possibilities of a relationship typically seem promising for users as the application provides such easy access to other men who are nearby. However, due to the popular use of Grindr to find casual sex, a great deal of men has found that these meetings don’t really go anywhere and that the app is inefficient means for finding a relationship, leaving those craving a long-term relationship extremely disappointed.

Grindr certainly has revolutionized physical interaction among gay men as it allows them to easily filter through and find sexual partners. Although Grindr serves to connect gay men with one another, its actual use goes beyond a networking outlet to an app with a thriving culture of casual sex. This reality further strengthens the social belief that exists both inside and outside of the LGBT community that homosexual men are hypersexual and promiscuous. To a certain extent, Grindr does pose benefits for the gay community as it truly does connect gay, bisexual, and queer men with one another. However, the negative social impact and stigma that is associated with the LGBT community continues to exist due to Grindr’s use and popularity does make the app slightly problematic. Even though Simkhai can’t control all of Grindr’s consumers and their intentions for using it, he can control the impact it creates for the rest of the public, and he should consider the implications that his app has for the LGBT community in doing that. There’s a need to eliminate the established stereotypes about gay men that have existed for so long, rather than perpetuate it.

Sources:

“About Grindr.” App - Privacy Policy, www.grindr.com/about/.

Beck, Julie. “The Rise of Dating-App Fatigue.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 27 Oct. 2016, www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2016/10/the-unbearable-exhaustion-of-dating-apps/505184/.

Engle, Clyde. “10 Things I Learned About Gay Hook-Up Culture From My Day On Grindr.” Elite Daily, Elite Daily, 17 Dec. 2018, www.elitedaily.com/dating/gay-hook-up-culture-grindr/1354315

Salemo, Robert. “Twenty Questions for Grindr Creator Joel Simkhai.” Xtra, 28 July 2011, www.dailyxtra.com/twenty-questions-for-grindr-creator-joel-simkhai-33729

Tadich, Paul. “The IPhone Revolutionized Gay Hookup Culture.” Motherboard, VICE, 27 June 2017, www.motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/bj84b8/iphone-anniversary-grindr-gay-hookup-culture